Cavaliers Announce Complete 2026-27 NBA Schedule

Local game telecast information will be announced at a later date. 

Highlights of the home schedule for the 2026-27 season include a pair of visits from the NBA Champion New York Knicks (Nov. 7 and Dec. 21 on Peacock), along with matchups against the Philadelphia 76ers (Nov. 6 on Prime/ESPN Radio and March 1 on Peacock) and Miami Heat (Nov. 29 and March 29 on Peacock). The Cavaliers will host the Detroit Pistons for a special Martin Luther King Jr. Day game on Jan. 18, airing on NBC/Peacock. 

Marquee opponents making their lone visit to Cleveland this season include the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 26, the Oklahoma City Thunder on Nov. 2 (Peacock), the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 14, the Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 15 (NBC/Peacock), the Denver Nuggets on Jan. 9, the Houston Rockets on March 22, the Los Angeles Lakers on March 25, and the Boston Celtics on April 1 (Prime).

Cleveland will also participate in the Emirates NBA Cup 2026, which will tip off Friday, Oct. 30 and continue through Friday, Nov. 27. Each NBA team will play four designated Group Play games on “Cup Nights”. The Cavaliers are set to compete in East Group B against teams in their pool: Nov. 6 vs. Philadelphia (Prime), Nov. 13 at Miami, Nov. 20 vs. Indiana, and Nov. 25 at New York. The Quarterfinals (Friday, Dec. 4 and Saturday, Dec. 5) and Semifinals (Tuesday, Dec. 8 and/or Wednesday, Dec. 9) will take place in NBA team markets before the tournament concludes with the Championship on Friday, Dec. 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. On days when Emirates NBA Cup Knockout Round games are not scheduled, the 22 teams that do not qualify will each play two regular season games.

The Cavaliers are currently scheduled to match up against each Eastern Conference opponent four times with the exception of Boston (one home, two away), Charlotte (one home, two away), Miami (two home, one away), Orlando (one home, two away), Philadelphia (two home, one away) and Washington (two home, one away). Each Western Conference opponent will play the Cavaliers twice – once at Rocket Arena and once on the road. Additional games against opponents can be added pending Cleveland’s Emirates NBA Cup results.

Other ‘stats’ on the 2026-27 regular season schedule include:

• 16 sets of back-to-back games, including four home-home sets (Nov. 6-7, Dec. 20-21, Feb. 16-17, April 4-5), five home-road sets (Oct. 28-29, Dec. 15-16, Dec. 27-28, Feb. 9-10, Feb. 25-26), four road-road sets (Jan. 2-3, Jan. 15-16, Feb. 3-4, March 11-12) and three road-home sets (Nov. 13-14, Jan. 29-30, March 31-April 1).
• The Cavaliers will have three four-game homestands (Nov. 14-20, Feb. 14-25, and March 20-29), three three-game homestands (Oct. 24-28, March 1-6, and April 1-5) and five two-game homestands (Nov. 6-7, Nov. 29-Dec. 1, Dec. 12-15, Dec. 20-21, and Feb. 6-9). 
• Cleveland’s longest road trip is six games over a 10-day stretch (March 9-18). The team also has one four-game road trip (Jan. 11-16), three three-game road trips (Nov. 9-13, Jan. 21-25, Feb. 1-4) and five two-game road trips (Oct. 29-31, Dec. 16-18, Jan. 2-3, Feb. 10-12 and April 7-9).
• Holiday games include Halloween (Oct. 31 at Milwaukee), Veterans Day (Nov. 11 at New York), Thanksgiving Eve (Nov. 25 at New York), New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31 vs. LA Clippers) and MLK Day (Jan. 18 vs. Detroit).
• Two of Cleveland’s four Emirates NBA Cup games will take place at Rocket Arena (Nov. 6 vs. Philadelphia on Prime and Nov. 20 vs. Indiana).
• Five matinee games at home this season – Dec. 31 vs. LA Clippers (3:00 p.m. ET – New Year’s Eve), Jan. 9 vs. Denver (5:00 p.m. ET), Jan. 18 vs Detroit (12:00 p.m. ET – MLK Day), Feb. 14 vs. Phoenix (1:00 p.m. ET), and April 4 vs. Charlotte (3:00 p.m. ET).
• Cleveland will play 16 games in January, its busiest month of the regular season. The Cavaliers will play 14 games each in November, December and March; 12 in February; and six each in October and April.
• The Cavaliers will begin the 2027 calendar with 14 of 19 games on the road from Jan. 2 through Feb. 4.
• Cleveland will finish the season playing 8 of their last 11 games at home; The season finale will take place at Rocket Arena where the Cavaliers face the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, April 11.

CAVALIERS 2026 PRESEASON SCHEDULE

The Cavaliers will prepare for the 2026-27 regular season presented by SeatGeek with three preseason games from Oct. 8-13. The preseason slate begins with two home games at Rocket Arena against Boston on Oct. 8 and Orlando on Oct. 11, the latter airing on ESPN. The Cavaliers conclude the preseason with a road game against Orlando on Oct. 13, airing exclusively on Peacock.

Date              Opponent          Time (ET)

Oct. 8            vs. BOSTON        7:00 p.m.

Oct. 11          vs. ORLANDO     6:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Oct. 13          at Orlando          7:00 p.m. (Peacock)

Ticket information for the 2026-27 season will be announced later today.  

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers have announced their 2026-27 NBA regular season schedule presented by SeatGeek, the organization’s official ticketing partner. The season tips off Thursday, Oct. 22 at Philadelphia at 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN and the ESPN App. The Cavaliers’ home opener is set for Saturday, Oct. 24, against Brooklyn at 7:30 p.m. ET at Rocket Arena, beginning a three-game homestand that also includes Minnesota on Monday, Oct. 26, and Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Cleveland’s current schedule features 80 regular season games, including 17 weekend home dates comprised of two Friday games, nine Saturday games and six Sunday games. Two additional games will be added at a later date pending the outcome of Emirates NBA Cup matchups to complete the Cavaliers’ 82-game regular-season slate.

 The Wine & Gold will also make 17 national television appearances this upcoming season:

• 6 games on ESPN/ESPN App: Oct. 22 at Philadelphia (season opener), Nov. 11 at New York, Jan. 27 vs. Detroit, Jan. 29 at Toronto, Feb. 26 at Boston, and April 7 at San Antonio
• 4 games on NBC/Peacock: Dec. 15 vs. San Antonio, Dec. 28 at Boston, Jan. 18 vs. Detroit (MLK Day), and March 9 at Detroit
• 4 games on Peacock (Exclusive): Nov. 2 vs. Oklahoma City, Dec. 21 vs. New York, March 1 vs. Philadelphia, and March 29 vs. Miami
• 3 games on Amazon Prime Video: Nov. 6 vs. Philadelphia (also on ESPN Radio), March 6 vs. Atlanta, and April 1 vs. Boston